Mike Brunker Horse racing editor • Profile • E-mail

ELMONT, N.Y. - It took Bobby Frankel 39 tries to win his first Breeders’ Cup race, but the trainer is making up for lost time. He collected his fourth championship trophy since 2001 by sending Intercontinental on her way to a front-running victory in the $1,060,000 Filly & Mare Turf on Saturday at Belmont Park.

Sent off at 15-1, Intercontinental rewarded her backers with payoff of $32.20 for each $2 wagered. Running time on the course rated “good” was 2:02.34.

The victory by the 5-year-old mare, who is believed bound for the breeding shed, also continued the parade of new riders to the winner’s circle, giving the up-and-coming Peruvian import Rafael Bejarano his first victory in his seventh start..

Slide show   The Breeders' Cup See images from the 2005 World Thoroughbreds Championships at Belmont Park.

Intercontinental, a 5-year-old daughter of Danehill, shot to the lead and then maintained it to the wire, easily fending off the late bids by favored Ouija Board and Film Maker to win by 1 ¼ lengths.

Jockey Rafael Bejarano got the often headstrong Intercontinental relaxed enough to carry her speed 1¼ miles on the good course for his first Breeders' Cup victory.

“He couldn’t have rode a better race,” said Frankel, who has saddled 65 Breeders’ Cup runners. “She had never been a mile-and-a-quarter before. I wasn’t really comfortable until five jumps from the wire.”

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Frankel, 65, took plenty of time to find his stride in the Breeders’ Cup, regularly tasting futility even when he was winning training titles and stakes races by the gross. But since his breakthrough victory in the 2001 Sprint with Squirtle Squirt, he has only been shut out once.

The trainer was joined in the winner’s circle by Intercontinental’s owner, Saudi Prince Khalid Abdullah, who owns a large number of beautifully bred racehorses but rarely shows up to watch them run.